Wizards Vegas Summer League Media Dump

Between hitting up the John Legend concert Friday night, going out for some fresh oysters at Hank’s Oyster Bar on Saturday, followed by a night on the town (really, the oysters at Hank’s, especially the ones from Fanny Bay, BC, Canada, were awesome), and then getting trounced in softball on Sunday afternoon (honestly, I think the final score was 24-2), I didn’t have much time to dedicate to the Wizards this past weekend.

I was able to make it through the T-Wolves game Sunday night, and take notes on it, but fell into a slumber before I was able to watch the Wizards against the Clippers or Knicks, both of which, I understand, were much better efforts from the D.C. boys. Oh, and Andray Blatche didn’t play in either game. Nick Young sat out of Sunday’s game against New York as well.

I aim to watch both of the remaining games tonight and subsequently post notes/observations, and then hand out some summer league grades. But until then, here’s the big media dump on what others have said:

Wizards vs. T’Wolves

Flip Saunders apparently sent word down to the bench at halftime that he wasn’t unhappy with the shot selection or their offense, but that the effort simply hadn’t been good enough, and the second half certainly looked better, anyhow.
…..
After posting double-doubles in his first two games in Vegas, Andray Blatche was completely out of kilter. I didn’t have a chance to catch up with him, but he was matched up with Pecherov a lot in the early going, and it sure seemed to me like he was trying (and failing) to take advantage of his former teammate.

Andray Blatche was frustrating as always. The guy is 7-0 tall and can do basically anything that he wants on the floor, yet his numbers never back it up. He showed no desire in playing defense or rebounding the ball, yet plenty of passion in jacking up jumpers from the perimeter. If someone were to give him a shot of toughness, we’d be looking at a potential all-star. Unfortunately, he hasn’t went to the doctor yet.

Regardless, the real problem was how the Wizards defended Flynn. It reminded me a lot of all the games they’ve played in the past against small, speedy point guards. The right way to have played Flynn was to drop off him and make him shoot jumpers. The wrong way is to try to fight through the screen as the big man hedges to give the guard time to do his job. Flynn’s just too quick for that and he’ll get by two of your guys and create an opportunity. He was doing that all night and killed the Wizards for it. If it weren’t Summer League, this would be the type of thing I’d be ranting about for days.

Top Tweets:

BulletsForever: Heytfelt has already given up two layups to Flynn and a hook shot by Adam Parada since he entered. Bad interior defense.

BulletsForever: Javaris needs to stop reaching on Flynn. They also should go under high ball screens.

coachthorpe: Nick Young is too good for this league. I hope he carries this confidence to the winter.

coachthorpe: Blatche is bored. His 0-8 showing is a sign of that. Why is he here again?

YouTube Wiz-Wolves Game Highlights:

Wizards vs. Clippers

JaVale McGee should help Washington’s frontcourt rotation a good deal this season. He’s got so much agility on both ends, a soft touch, and actually knows how to backpedal against a speedy guard coming off a screen.

Tonight we saw the best of JaVale McGee. While he only grabbed 4 rebounds, his 7 blocks and thundering alley-oop late in the second half have become trademarks, and the fan-favorite really showed what he was made of tonight as the Wizards cruised by the Clippers to even their Summer League record at 2-2.

On a side note, it was interesting to see Sam Cassell on the sidelines as a coach. He was continually talking and once during the first quarter after Nick Young drove the ball to the basketball and was fouled, Cassell yelled to him, “I didn’t tell you to drive”.

Other Web Hits:

Brendan told me that the biggest thing JaVale needs to work on with his post defense is learning to play his man when he doesn’t have the ball. Brendan told me that, as a post defender, you always need to work on pushing your guy out of position so he’s in a bad spot when he catches the ball. Right now, Brendan said JaVale isn’t really committing himself to doing that, and as a result, he’s waiting until too late to really get himself into the play.

Fellow guard Jason Rich might have quietly earned an invitation to training camp. Rich, a rookie from Florida State, does not shoot much, but he could serve as a backup point guard. Rich started Sunday and finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

“He had a good week of basketball,” Cassell said. “He was always in the right position. It’s hard when you only have three days of practice, but he picked up everything. We will take a look to see what we need, but he has a chance. He will be high on our list.”

Just seems odd to highlight a guy who over five games averaged 20.4 minutes, 3.4 points, .211 FG%, 3.0 rebounds, and dropped four assists to four turnovers, and say ‘Hey, this guy might be invited to training camp to fight Javaris Crittenton, Mike James, and Randy Foye for the backup PG spot … that’s all I’m saying.

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About TAI

Truth About It.net, Washington Wizards Blog, ESPN TrueHoop Network -- Following the D.C. pro basketball franchise since the 90s and covering them in blog form since 2007 -- Opinion, Analysis, Irreverence, Pictures, Video, Interviews, Photoshops, News, Video, Quotes, Shares, and all the pixels about the Washington Wizards you can imagine.